The Link to Life
by Sakura Morinozuka
Summary: Li Qiang is found near death by the people of the Black Order.


She took in a thick, freezing breath.

Her fingers were numb.

Her body was numb.

Colors of white mixed with red.

Life slipping away, getting sleepy.

It was getting exhausted.

"I just want to let go," her words sounded like finger nails on chalkboard. It was a weak, fragile sound.

It was getting colder; colder than the snow that buried her.

The merciless snow buried her, halfway into death.

Suddenly her eyes burst open, realization coming back into the pupils' depths. She had much more to do than sit and be dead. Even if death, then, sounded like an elegant sanctuary, she must deny it.

So with the fragment of strength she had left, she pulled herself together, the numbness ebbing away to sharp and murderous pain. "I can't let go."

There was shouting. There was pounding of feet against snow caked pavement. Tears started to brim her eyes, but she slowly raised her arm and wiped them away with her kimono's sleeve. They wouldn't take her away now. She wouldn't die yet.

Her arms were stronger than her legs.

She dragged herself into a nearby bush. They would see her blood smeared as a track all the way to her hiding spot.

What would she do?

Suddenly she felt as if she were very sleepy; even more sleepier than she was before, about to let death sweep her away.

And that's when everything turned pitch black.

**{&}**

She expected to wake up in some sort of heavenly like place. But it was quite the opposite.

She woke up in a white clad room, in a bed. When she tried to move, her wounds stung and protested, so she let herself fall back.

"Oh, you're awake." She was startled; she hadn't expected to hear any voices but her own for a long time. The girl suddenly realized how long it had been since she had a conversation with someone.

The tad movement and turning her head towards the voice made her cringe with pain. But it was worth it. She saw a boy with white hair, and a small red mark on his left eye.

"Komui and Bak told me to watch after you… they said that you shouldn't move much."

What was this kid talking about? She had no idea who these people were. When she finally realized that she wasn't wearing her kimono, geta, or had her fan, she was alarmed. "My… things…"

The boy was surprised at her scratchy and weak voice. There was worry on his young face. Why was he worried about her, who didn't even know his name, or anything about him?

"Oh. They're put up in those drawers there." The boy pointed to a small wooden wardrobe. She believed him, and the shock of not having her things warred off. "We also washed your kimono for you," the boy continued, "it had blood over it, and we thought you wouldn't want to wear it if it was dirty."

She sort of heard what the boy said. But her mind was elsewhere. "Those people…" she found herself saying, "they wanted to kill me. They bit into my skin – and then… they turned into…" her voice trailed off for a while, "demons."

He was surprised again by her sudden outburst. He rubbed the back of his head with his hand. "Well, they're called akuma, and they kill humans; especially ones with Innocence."

There this boy went on again about something she didn't know about.

Before she could muster the energy up to ask what Innocence was, the door opened. Two people stepped in.

"Oh, she's awake! Allen, you didn't talk to her too much, did you?"

The cheeriness of the beret-headed man made her smile. It was only a slight upturn of her lips, but everyone in the room paused and turned towards her. "She thought it was funny!" The other man said, leaning down next to her. "At least she has enough strength to smile."

"She can talk, too!" The white-haired boy (she heard he was called Allen) said eagerly.

The beret-headed man leaned down next to her. She looked into his eyes – they weren't hidden by his small square glasses. She saw kindness and worries in his dark irises. "It is clear; this girl has Innocence." He said. For some reason it was odd seeing this man serious.

"For now, let's work on getting her to a healthy state; and then we can conjure up what her Innocence is in." The other man said.

**{&}**

The next day, she was well enough to sit up. Most of the pain was gone. She could see what she wore now – her chest was bandaged up with white. For pants she just wore loose black pants. No one had come in to see her in a while, that morning, so she propped herself up onto the pillow and looking around the room for the first time.

There was one chair beside her small bed. The wardrobe wasn't far from that chair; it was in the corner of the room, facing the left of her.

There was no door for the room. Only a pale green curtain – it was so thin you could see shadows behind it. She strained her neck forward, as if maybe she could see the feet underneath it.

After a few minutes of straining, she rested back onto her pillow. That's when she noticed the sound of footsteps and rain. She was surprised when the curtains pulled back, and standing there was a short-haired girl. A warm smile was on her face, and she held a tray with soup atop it. "You seem better than what you were when we first found you." The girl observed.

_So, she must've been one of the ones who found me near death. _She thought, a smile growing on her face. "I feel much better, too. Thank you." The girl nodded to the one as she gave her the tray.

The soup was warm and refreshing. It made her realize how hungry she was – and how long it had been since she last ate. What, three days, to the top? She didn't want to calculate that, now. All of her mind was concentrated on the soup, until the last drop was gone.

It was like her senses came back to her when she was done eating. She realized that the other girl was giggling softly. "What is it?" She asked.

"Oh, nothing – you just remind me of Allen."

_The white-haired boy. _She had no idea that Allen ate a lot – by his appearance, anyways. "I was hungry, that's all. I must've looked like some half-starved pig."

That made the girl laugh again. It made her feel better to hear someone's laughter – she must've not heard it in a long while.

"My brother – Komui – told me to take you to the baths after you were done eating. He said your wounds should be healed enough to get in water. You weren't awake when he stitched them together, were you?"

She shook her head. Of course she wasn't.

"Anyway, my name is Lenalee. What's yours?"

She was surprised by this sudden question. Her name – she hadn't thought about that in quite awhile. She figured to give it like second nature, but it took a while to dig it out. "My name is Li Qiang. It's nice to meet you, Lenalee."

**{&}**

The bath water was surprisingly hot. They were kept in a small room with bamboo floors, and the baths were just like ones you'd find outside – rock ones. You could hear the rain battering against the bamboo doors of the bath. Li kept her wash bucket on the smooth rock platform beside her, and then she sunk her head into the water – only her nose and up were airborne.

Lenalee was very pretty – Li realized – her hair would look so pretty longer. But Li could tell that she was a nice and caring girl. She took her eyes off of Lenalee, and then started to bathe.

Many conversations started up when they were in the baths. Lenalee asked Li questions, like, 'When were you born?' and 'How old are you?'. Once Li had answered those questions, Lenalee would answer them for herself.

"Do you feel like you're being watched?" Lenalee asked, whispering into Li's ear.

In fact, it did feel strangely like someone was watching them. So, half hidden by water and rock, Lenalee and Li turned around. There was a small hole in the bamboo doors leading to the hallways. Lenalee and Li exchanged glances, smiles growing on their faces.

Li grabbed one geta and then flung it at the hole. Along with the crashing of the sliding door came a pained groan from the Peeping Tom. The two girls grabbed their towels and then leapt up.

The man who was with Komui was the one who was watching.

"Bak!" Lenalee screamed in surprise and distaste. Before Li could stop Lenalee, the girl smashed the man's face in with her foot. That exorcist sure did have strong legs.

**{&}**

Bak was punished severely by Komui – who didn't talk to the fellow scientists for weeks on end, and refused to let Bak come anywhere near Lenalee. Too bad no one cared about whether or not Bak came towards Li. But she could take care of herself.

After that perverted situation was taken care of, Li got dressed in her kimono and whatnot, and then was taken to a testing room by Komui. They figured out that her geta was her anti-akuma weapon. Who would've guessed?

Her synchronization rate was that of seventy three percent, it seemed, and it would be highly dangerous if she were to fully activate her geta. So after all this was done, Li was asked what she wanted her outfit to be. She tried to make it not too much like a kimono.

So her first real day at the Asian Branch turned out to be quite weird.

**{&^&}**

**I hope this chapter was good. I tried to make it as long as I could.**

**  
Reviews, please!**


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